Awsome T5 Pendants By Fauna Marin
 

We are pleased to provide the first details and pictures of the NEW Fauna Marin T5 Pendants

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...I2008-2bmp.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...I2008-1bmp.jpg

These will be available in the following

24 -39-54-80wattage

Bulb configuration - 4-10 tubes per unit

Reflectors - single reflector per tube

Available in dimmable and Non dimmable

Interface with GHL ProfiLux aqautic controllers

Active cooling, no more worries about having external cooling fans, the inbuilt fans will react to the lamp temperature and adjust the fan speed accordingly.

Prices to follow as well as detailed sizes.

Expected release date - January 2009.

Please let me know what the price would be on a 6 and 8 lamp 24" fixture. Also, will there be optional tank brackets available?

More than a year ago Claude told me they were having problems making 24" fixtures and getting approval for sale in Canada. Will these be UL or CSA approved?

All sizes will be available

The units come with approved UL ballasts and electonic components, but in the future we are going further than any other manufacturer and having the Fixtures TUV approved, but as you are most likely aware this is a VERY long process, but we believe important and hopefully in doing so convince other manufacturers of the importance of recognised safety standards.

At present I am personally not aware of one manufacturer going this far. I am proud to want to change this.

Wall brackets - once launched we will look at other accessories that are required.

I posted on RC asking what the expected turn around time is going to be once one of these is ordered. I see on RC you posted that they are completely custom - while this sounds great in theory it will most certainly lead to some rather delayed orders. Consumers aren't interested in waiting months for their product and ReefGeek has recognized this as being the single biggest problem with crushing their sales of ATI Powermoduls - hence the reason Greg at ReefGeek has gone to making his own T5 fixtures.

You have two options

Standard
and
Custom

If you want a specific colour then just like anything custom yes there will be a wait

BUT the STANDARD full range will always be available.

Custom only applies if you want something different from the marketed range such as glary pink :mrgreen:

They are some nice looking T5 systems, I may have to look into changing my Tek lighting system to a 6 bulb unit. One concern however would be the delay time. Any speculation on pricing yet?

You work quick, already answered my question about delay time, even before I finished writing it.

Pricing this week, i should receive it tomorrow

NON dimmable will be available very soon sorry can not give exact date.

Dimmable - This will come on schedule in january.

GHL interface - 6 weeks

Fast worker ;)

You're answering my questions here and on RC at the same time! Well done!

So who in Canada is going to sell these? And will that retailer/those retailers actually stock them or will they simply place orders as customers request them making the turn around time several months as they are shipped from Germany and then have to clear Customs?

OH so negative ;)

All my dealers in canada will have access to them, Progresive reef in Victoria will stock them in fact they have the first wave.

We hope to carry enough stock for demand but first we need to wok out demand

if you give us enough notice we can get yours on the first batch, as you can see demand is massive!

Shipping time is about 10 days once manufactured

Going offline now so I will repsond to all questions tomorrow first thing

If we are lucky maybe they will have a special promotion like how they gave on their new skimmer line.

Only negative because I've been trying to get a quality T5 fixture for about a year and the only option was waiting months and months to get an ATI Powermodul to come from Germany. If you guys can provide a readily available quality T5 fixture you will have the market cornered right now without question - bravo!

I'm in for a non-dimmable 24" 6 or 8 lamp fixture right now. If someone could get it here now I'd pay now.

WELL - We are not other companes so expect things to be done different. ;)

I will find out how son i can get this for you.

They look great and very sturdy. Might be interested in more info on them. Do they only
make them as a hanging unit? It looks to me that some sort of bracket would be out of the question. Curious if you have tried them or anyone else for that matter?:question: I could generously offer to test for you.:lol:

We will look into hanging brakets once launched but in experience the offerings available from home DIY stores are more flexible and cheaper and for us to go in to bulk production normally out weighs the logisitcs of such an operation, BUT I will look into it

These are still in manufacture so have not been in reefers hands as yet, but Progressive reef will be receiving the first sample and show casing it.

Naturally being German designed and built and ALL parts of the same area (not chenises parts put together in Germany) these will come with a quality with no compromise.

Does this fixture come with a splash guard?

Determine splash guard, if you mean safety glass from tubes then yes as per any decent lamp, I would NEVER buy one without.

Yes, I mean a sheet of glass or acrylic to protect the lamps/reflectors. The old Fauna Marin Ultra Solaris didn't have anything to protect the reflectors from salt spray and the reflectors were quickly pitted, stained, and damaged - this was one of the biggest complaints about the unit. I assume Fauna Marin recognizes this and made the necessary changes.

Still eagerly waiting to find out about a release date and price (yes I realize it's only been a day but I'm like a kid at Christmas right now) :D

And there are many that still sell lamps like this!

Fauna is NOT one of them ;)

Direct response from Fauna Marin

Hi
Yes sure
it is 4 mm acrylic

FAUNA MARIN GMBH

Gottlieb-Binder-Strasse 9
71088 Holzgerlingen

Thanks!

There is a guy on ReefCentral, I believe GrimReefer is is name, who has tested various T5 units and bulbs. I have a T5 Tek-light and I was hoping to upgrade to an ATI Powermodule. If you can get your lights tested and they stack up to the Powermodule then I would be interested in getting your lights. Quite frankly for a big investment of money on an item I will keep for at least 5 years, I won't be buying without some head-to-head comparison testing.

Once launched light units will be provided to dealers for reviewing and no doubt we will off one unit up to the canadian market and the USA market for public review also

Please dont all start putting your names in the hat as we are a bit off that point at the moment

Can you give me a rough timeline? Originally it was posted that they would be released in January. I know Fauna Marin has had some issues with delayed releases in the past.

As far as GrimReefer's "testing" goes I'd forget it. If you look back on the history of the "testing" done by Hahn and Grim on RC you'll see that they've made so many mistakes that it's impossible to draw any conclusions from their results. For instance, Grim recently found that he wasn't properly handling the T5 lamps correctly and providing sufficient settling and burn-in time when testing the lamps. Prior to that he reported that ATI lamps had "the best" PAR. Now he's having to re-evaluate things. Additionally, he and Hahnmeister incorrectly assumed that T5 lamps required cooling along the length of the lamp. Now they (and we) know that there's a cold spot that needs cooling and nothing else. They also thought that keeping things as cool as possible was the best idea - now they know that overcooling the lamp drops its output.

That's why I laugh when hobbyists perform "tests" of things. Unfortunately those "tests" lack adequate control and often lack sufficient validity. To this point the only test results I'm at all interested in seeing are those by Sanjay if he ever publishes them.

This is why testing will not be done initially by hobbyists but instead dealers that carry more than one type of fixture

The tubes fitted will be of course Fauna Marin Aqua Science or theyre new generation if ordered with tubes, standard will be minus tubes ;)

Dates, they are already in the process of manufacture, and any delay will be due to santa, but I am working hard to get round that one.

First batch will be as follows

24w 4 tube
39w 6 tube
54w 8 tube
80w 10 tube

Dimmable yet to be assigned as we are still testing ballasts.

Dimmable will launch after standard

So how long am I likely to have to wait for a 6 or 8 lamp 24" fixture? If it's going to be after January I'm going to have to look at other options.

As I said before we anticipate lamps to be launched in january, and as i also said before if you give me your requirements I can fast track this for you to see if I can get it here sooner.

The order will be taken through progressive reef being your closest stockist.

ALL dealers of ours will carry these and we have massive interest in new dealers also.

So lamps will be launched in January but that doesn't tell me when the fixtures will be released. On ReefCentral I said I'd like a 6 lamp 24" fixture, so I'll say the same thing here. But if I can get a quote on a 8 lamp I'd also be interested in that (depending on whether or not there's a difference in time for production or if the cost is prohibitive).

Thanks.

Ok sorry i dont understand, if I am saying the lamps will be launched in january then they will be released in january wont they? or am i miss understanding?

I will work as fast as possible to meet your requirements

I should have ALL details by the end of next week.

I think I see where the confusion is:

When you say "lamps" I'm reading that as "bulbs" (because a fluorescent tube is not a "bulb" and is referred to as a "lamp" by many - I never incorrectly call a fluorescent "tube" or "lamp" a "bulb"). But I guess when you say "lamp" you mean "fixture" or "light".

Does that sound right and does it clarify things?

Hiya

yes i mean fixture :wink:

Off home now, have a good weekend will catch up with news next week :smile:

Well I have to disagree.

Of course if I had 100 identical reef tanks and could randomly assign different lighting units to the different tanks and compare them for PAR and coral growth that would be great. Since no one has the money or time to do that we have to settle for the next best thing. Grim's testing, although imperfect, is a valid source of information. Another source of information is people's experience with a piece of equipment. For example if you read 500 postings stating that brand X skimmer is a good skimmer then you can be pretty confident in buying brand X skimmer. However there won't be much accumulated experience with these new light fixtures until a year or two has gone by.

We lack objective scientific information about most of the equipment we buy. Anecdotal reports by other hobbyists, and testing such as has been done by GrimReefer, is the best we have to go on. And I won't be buying any expensive equipment for my tank unless it has either been endorsed by many other hobbyists, or had some comparative testing done, or both.

Does that mean these are discontinued?

http://www.aqua-digital.com/index.ph...t5-system.html

Yep, web site is still being updated, very soon we will have the new info.

I am actually waiting for my web designer to give me access!!!

By definition Grim's tests can't be deemed valid considering how unreliable they are. Grim's tests have been so "imperfect" that they are essentially useless. Go back on RC and see where Grim, himself, has recognized that he needs to re-do his lamp "testing" to make it more reliable and valid. I appreciate that hobbyists take it upon themselves to try to objectively measure some of the things in our hobby but they tend to just bolster the perpetuation of misinformation under the guise of being "facts" obtained from "testing".

I don't expect to see randomized controlled trials for any of our equipment. But given the sketchy history of misinformation and poor "testing" done by many hobbyists I would be more inclined to base an equipment choice on anecdotal reports than misguided "testing". At least I know I won't be deluding myself into believing something that is dogma and I'll know that my decision is simply based on recommendations.

I see your point, but people like grim, although flawed in their research, have no financial incentive for skewing results. Give a light to a dealer to test, and hes gonna sit down and go, "Which one of these lights gives me the largest profit?" Every dealer I've EVER dealt with assures me their product is better than the other guys, and if he sells both, he'll tell you the more expensive one is better without fail

I agree. But you know to expect this. And you know to take a dealer's recommendations with some skepticism. My concern is that people see "testing" done by "unbiased" hobbyists and quickly latch onto the results as being points of "fact" when the test results are usually invariably flawed or simply false. Then the problem becomes that those faulty test results get punted around on discussion boards (for example) as being based on strict unbiased testing despite the results being invalid. This makes those results more dangerous than the recommendations of the dealer, who most know to take with a grain of salt.

What are the dimensions of the fixtures going to be?